A Cat in Queens
by Button-Neck
Summary: Nico had been turned into a cat. A small walking fur ball that some considered a symbol for bad luck, he could almost laugh at how ironic it was.


Based off of tinbro's headcanon thing about nico being turned into a cat  
yay for my first pjo/hoo fic, it was broken up into 3 parts on my tumblr so I thought I'd have them all together here. also I really hope to think of a better title soon.

* * *

_This is stupid._ Nico thought as he looked at his refection in a puddle.

With the war over and no impending doom looking over his shoulder; Nico had been taking a lot of minor quests from his dad, or anyone really, anything to keep busy.

But this? This was undoubtedly the most ridiculous situation he had gotten himself into.

He looked again into the water, hoping that it would change, but of course it didn't. His ears flattened against his damp hair, or actually what was now fur.

Nico had been turned into a cat.

A small walking fur ball that some considered a symbol for bad luck, he could almost laugh at how ironic it was.

It's only been five hours and Nico thinks that punishment enough.

He could try to wait it out, but who knows how long that will take. Sooner or later he would have to find someone to help him fix his problem. Better sooner than later. He could go to the underworld and hopefully his dad could fix this, but unfortunately that was on the other side of the country; and not only was Nico a cat, but he was a cat without his powers.

His only other option was Camp Half-Blood.

~.~

One good thing about being a cat was no one asked you to pay for stuff. As long as you went unnoticed you could go pretty much anywhere.

Eventually he made it to Long Island, finding the camp was another matter.

Despite being a bad luck symbol, it seemed he was lucky enough to have sneaked onto to a bus that had a satyr and two demigods.

He followed quietly behind and watched them go through the gate. Hesitantly he approached. It's been almost two years since he was last in the camp. After the war ended he had left in the middle of the night without even a goodbye. He did however talk to Hazel every now and then.

He stepped over the barrier, thankful that it had let him pass. Now came the more difficult part: finding someone who could speak cat.

~.~

Nico walked around camp taking in the sites. Things had changed slightly in the time he had left, the cabins seemed bigger. Possibly from the integration between camps, or the fact that he was a cat everything just looked bigger.

He found his cabin and squeezed through the crack between the door and the frame. Things had stayed almost exactly like he had left them. What made it weird was that there were no spider webs or an excessive amount of dust that should have gathered. It was almost as if someone kept it clean for him.

His bed suddenly looked more comfortable than it actually was, and decided to curl up for a nap, not realizing how tired he actually was.

~.~

His animal instincts startled him awake when the floor creaked. Immediately Nico shot up looking around for whatever had caused it. _It_ was Jason Grace.

He didn't move as Jason approached very slowly, mostly because he smelled like food. Nico couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. Carefully Jason stretched out a hand, Nico shrunk back to avoid contact. Apparently he got the message, instead he asked. "How'd you get in here little guy?"

_The door was open. More importantly _why _are you in here?_ Nico wanted to say but evidently a talking cat defeated the purpose of his punishment.

So instead Nico just looked around him. The smell of food came though his door, it must have been dinner time.

"You must be hungry," Jason said, bringing his attention back to him. "wait here."

Minutes later he returned with a water bottle, a dish and something else in a napkin. He set the dish on the floor and filled it part way with water, then moved to set the napkin on the floor beside it. Nico jumped off the bed and walked over to where the food was. It was then that he realized he would have to eat like the animal he was, but he was so hungry he didn't care, he did abstained from drinking the water, keeping _some_ of his dignity.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Nico is, would you?"

He turned to find Jason sitting on the floor behind him.

He sighed. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

Before he could say anything more the door opened revealing Leo.

"Figured you be in here— is that a cat?"

"I found him lying on Nico's bed."

As Leo got closer Nico growled at him and he jerked back.

Even when he was human he didn't like being around that many people, now that they seemed like giants, being around one was enough.

"I don't think your new pet likes me too much."

"He's not mine, I just found him in here and gave him some food that's all."

"Whatever man. So what are you going to name it?" he paused. "Oh, I know, why don't you name him Nico?" Jason looked back at him. "Come on, you can't deny they look alike, dark eyes, black hair and the fact that it doesn't like me, it's fitting."

"I'm not going to name him after one of my friends Leo."

_Friend?_ Nico eye's darted to Jason at that.

~.~

Later on after Jason had coaxed Nico into his cabin he found himself in a nest of blankets. He only opened his eyes when Jason came back into the room dressed for bed, and Nico thanked every god that he didn't sleep naked.

He crawled into bed careful not to move Nico too much. Once it seemed he was comfortable he reached his arms around the nest of blankets and pulled them closer. Nico was about to jump off but a gentle hand on his head stopped him.

He didn't like people touching him, in any form that he might be in. but this was actually _nice_.

Nico was brought even closer to where he could feel the heat radiating off him. It was hard not to fall asleep instantly, with the constant warmth and the light petting on his head and behind his ears. He didn't realize until he was drifting off to sleep that he was actually _purring_.

He had no idea when or how he would change back. But for right now this wasn't too bad.

~:~

When Nico woke he discovered that he was lying on the chest of a giant Jason. Immediately he shot up accidentally unsheathing his claws, causing them to poke through the fabric of his shirt, but not enough to break skin.

Right, he was still a cat.

Light was just beginning to filter through the window, indicating a new day. Jason stirred in his sleep and Nico jumped off him and onto the windowsill to look outside. He spotted a bird on the ground searching for its breakfast and watched it intently as it hopped around. With his eyes practically glued to the bird he licked his lips in hunger, but then shook his head after realizing what he was doing.

_Stupid instincts_

He tore his gaze away from the window and looked at the sleeping form slightly below him. The nest of blankets that had been made the night before wasn't there anymore. Some had been pushed to the floor and others were tangled or stuck under Jason.

His attention was brought back to the bird outside that was now flying away. Nico realized how hungry he was. Normally he could go a while without eating, but it must have been something about his cat form and heighten senses that made his energy not last as long.

He jumped down back onto Jason earning a grunt in return as he finally started to wake up.

~.~

It's been almost a week. Nico found it was hard trying to come up with a way to communicate when you couldn't speak, or even write. Nico missed opposable thumbs.

Currently he was sitting outside the Zeus cabin with Jason who was dangling a string in front of him. He made swipe at it simply to try and get it away from him so he would stop and he was failing miserably at it. Every time he thought he had it Jason pulled away at the last moment.

"Jason there you are." He looked up and saw Piper approaching them. "So this is your new pet Leo told me about."

"He's not mine. I'm just taking care of him until he decides to move on." He invited her to sit down beside him.

"Well you have to at least give him a name in the meantime. You can't just go around calling him cat."

_It wouldn't be an issue if I was human._

"What about Shadow?" she offered.

"That seems a bit too generic for a black cat."

"Well then what did you have in mind?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know." He thought for a moment. "How about Ghost, since he showed up out of nowhere."

"Ghost? I like it." She reached out a finger to pet under his chin, but Nico backed away.

"Oh yeah, he doesn't like to be touched."

"Not true. All cats like to be petted, even if they act like they don't."

Nico didn't like the look in her eyes so he dashed inside the cabin.

~.~

Later that night was set up much like it had been the past few nights. With Nico curled onto a nest of blankets, close enough to feel the heat radiating off Jason.

He was quite comfortable, until someone started knocking on the door. Since Jason was already asleep he didn't answer right away and the knocking got louder.

Eventually it woke him up and he walked over to the door and opened it.

"Oh, good you're awake."

"It's the middle of the night, Piper." He said tiredly, but she pushed past him and entered his cabin.

"I know, but I think you'll want to hear this. Hazel just sent me an IM."

"About what?"

"About Nico."

Nico's eyes shot open at the mention of his name.

"What about Nico, is he alright?"

"That's the thing, she's not sure. She just said that she's been having some really weird dreams about him being in trouble. And whenever she tried to IM him it wouldn't go through."

Nico figured this was the best opportunity he would have to get them to understand. He jumped off the bed and scampered over to them.

"She wanted to know if you had found anything." Piper continued.

Jason sighed "No, I haven't found anything. Nobody's seen him since the war except for her."

Nico started pawing at Jason's leg and he gently shook him off.

"Not now Ghost."

Nico didn't stop. He started to poke his claws through Jason's pants. When that didn't work he pounced onto his back and climbed onto his shoulder.

"Ow." He said when Nico's claws continued to poke through the fabric. Nico jumped off after realizing a shoulder wasn't the easiest place to stay. "What's gotten into you?"

Piper stayed quiet as she watched and then she had an absolutely ridiculous thought.

"Jason, where did you find Ghost?"

"In Nico's cab— no, you don't think that…"

They both turned toward the cat.

"Nico?" they asked at the same time.

He managed to nod.

_Finally_

~:~

The first thing they did was contact Hazel.

"Good news, we found Nico." Piper said.

The girl on the other side of the mist let out a sigh of relief.

"Bad news is he's a cat." Jason continued, holding up a squirming Nico where she could see.

_Yeah, no kidding. Now let go of me._

Nico managed to whack Jason in the face with his tail, causing him to lose his grip so he could get away.

"How did this even happen?" Hazel asked.

"No idea. We just found out it was him, and then we messaged you." Jason said

"We were wondering if your dreams might have said anything else."

"No, sorry. I just knew that he was in some sort of trouble. I guess that does explain why everything looked bigger."

"Hazel!" someone on the other side of the mist yelled. They were saying something but sounded too out of breath to understand. Hazel's eyes widened when they finished.

"I'm really sorry you guys but I have to go, someone apparently thought it would be funny to use Hannibal for a prank, now he's rampaging through the streets. Let me know if you find anything out." She said before she broke the connection.

Piper turned to Jason. "Aren't the Stoll's in Camp Jupiter?"

~.~

They decided to ask Chiron for help in the morning. Nico just hoped that he was in his wheelchair and not full centaur, being so small made everything else, well….intimidating.

Unfortunately he wasn't when they got to the Big House, so he decided to stay outside while they went in and explained the situation to Chiron.

Nico stood on his back legs and looked over the windowsill so he could see and hear better what was going on inside.

"You're absolutely sure it's him?"

Jason nodded "And the fact that Hazel was having dreams about him being in trouble proves it."

Chiron looked at Jason, was that sympathy in his eyes? "Are you sure this isn't another wild goose chase? I know you want to find him but he's been gone for nearly two years, I find it hard to believe that he would just show up, much less as a cat."

"But it's true," Piper said.

Nico got back down on all fours and started pacing on the porch. What had he meant by _another_ wild goose chase? Had Jason looked for him before?

"Nico." He turned to see who had called him.

Chiron had come outside, still in his true form, with Jason and Piper behind him. Nico jumped onto the wooden banister so he wouldn't feel as small.

He had moved closer to get a better look. "Whoever did this is very skilled in their abilities."

"What should we do?" Jason asked.

"I would suggest to wait it out. Most magic fades over time, this one might as well. I say you wait at least a month, and if there's no change then we'll try to figure something out. As for now, I'm afraid I can't help you."

~.~

A month? There was no way he was going to wait that long.

"Would you stop that?"

Nico and Jason had gone back to the Zeus cabin and Nico was pacing across the floor looking as angry as a small ball of fur could.

Nico supposed he would have to start his long journey across country. Could cats even travel that far? What about food? In all his time on his own he had never eaten out of the trash, he wasn't about to start now.

His train of thought was broken as he was suddenly lifted into the air by the scruff of his neck.

"You keep pacing like that and you're going to make a hole in my floor."

Nico looked where he had been and noticed scratch marks. He hadn't even realized his claws were out.

Jason sighed and put him down on the bed. When this is all over Nico was going to have serious talk about manhandling— or maybe not since he would just be leaving again. "Look I know that you're frustrated, but we'll figure something out."

He flopped back on his bed looking equally frustrated, which didn't make since. He wasn't the _cat_ here.

"Jason?"

He sat up and saw Hazel.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, well no, not really."

So he filled her in on what happened.

"He can't be too happy about that."

"You don't have to tell me. I think I might have to have him declawed before he makes a hole in my floor."

To show how much he didn't like the comment Nico scratched his arm, not enough to draw blood but enough to show his annoyance.

"Ow, you keep that up I'm definitely going to."

~.~

Talking to Hazel had helped them form somewhat of a plan. Backtrack to where he had been turned and work from there.

It was simple in theory, but actually getting results from it was kind of a long shot.

But still worth a try.

~.~

The sun had set some time ago and Jason was packing when there was a knock at the door.

It was Piper with a bag slung over her shoulder.

"Piper, what are you-"

"I figured you would try to go anyway." She held the bag out to him. "Here you can use this."

"You're not coming with us?"

"I'll stay here and cover for you. Besides it will probably be faster with just the two of you." Jason nodded understanding, as though there was more to what she was saying.

He took the bag from her. "What's this for anyway?"

"It's enchanted, some places won't let you bring animals with you, and this will help hide Nico. It looks like a normal bag, and if someone, other than someone who can see through the mist, looks inside he'll look like a bundle of clothes."

"So it's basically a pet purse?"

She shrugged. "In a way, yeah."

_There is no way in Hades I'm getting in that thing._

~.~

Nico had done a lot of things in the time that he's been a cat; most of which he would've _never_ thought about doing, and would never like to speak of again. So why not add being shoved into a pet purse like a prissy poodle to the list?

After a very strange game of charades they headed for Queens. When they got to the train station Jason found that he had left in such a rush that he didn't have enough money.

Well there goes staying on the ground. Maybe they should have brought Piper along after all, her charmspeak would've been very helpful.

~.~

Nico and Jason both were thankful for the bag that Piper gave him. Nico probably would have clawed his arm, or whatever he was holding to pieces if Jason had to actually carry him in the air.

A few hours later he landed, deciding that they should stop for the night. Jason managed to have just enough for one night at a really cheap motel.

Nico jumped out of the bag as soon as the door was shut. He was tempted to roll on the floor after being in the air for so long, but he was determined to retain _some_ of his dignity.

"We'll get there tomorrow," Jason said as he tossed his bag on the floor. "in the meantime let's get some rest."

He sat on the bed and took off his shoes.

Bed. Right, now that Jason knew that it was Nico he probably wouldn't won't him sleeping in the same bed as him.

He would never admit it, but the past few nights he had spent with him had been the best nights of sleep he'd had in a long time.

He didn't really want to sleep on the floor. Maybe the chair in the corner was comfortable.

As he started to make his way to the chair he saw Jason walk over to the bag and pull out a blanket, one of the same ones that Nico had been sleeping on. He walked back over to the bed and bundled it up and placed in between the center of the bed and the wall.

He then seemed to realize what he was doing.

"Oh, right, you probably don't want to sleep here…." He trailed.

Nico hesitated before jumping onto the bed and curling onto the blanket.

~.~

Fortunately Nico remembered where he had last been human, and more importantly how to get there.

Which left Jason chasing a cat through Queens, and it was certainly a sight to see.

He lost Nico twice, luckily though he managed to find him before he got too far. By the time they stopped, Jason was a bit winded.

Jason stared up at the abandoned building. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

Nico glared at him. _Do I look like I would forget, Grace?_

"I'm just making sure."

~.~

Nico desperately hoped that the brat was still in here. He hadn't seemed like he was in a hurry to get anywhere.

They had reached the third floor before they found anything.

"Well if it isn't my new pet." A voice behind then said. "Oh and look at this he even brought home a friend."

They turned to find a lanky boy who couldn't have been any older than his late teens, dressed in some sort of punk magician costume standing in the shadows.

Nico growled at him. Jason took his coin out of his pocket, ready to flip at a moment's notice.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"You should be nicer, or else you'll end up like Nico here. But to answer your question, I'm Keith, son of Hecate."

"A demigod?"

"Demigod, half blood, Roman, Greek, whatever you want to call me, it doesn't matter. I don't associate with the others." He waved his hands around as he spoke. "Now that you know who I am perhaps you could return the favor and introduce _yourself_."

"I'm Jason." He said simply, no need to give out more information that was needed.

"Jason? As in Jason Grace? I've heard about you." He started to walk toward them. "But you didn't come here to find out what I know."

"I came here to convince you to turn Nico back."

"Why should I? He insulted me, besides you have to admit that he's cuter this way."

Jason ignored the last part "How did he insult you?"

"It doesn't matter _how_, what matters is that he did."

"I'm sure he had a good reason." Jason mumbled looking down at Nico.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. If your spell, magic or whatever it was isn't going to wear off anytime soon then change him back."

"My _magic_, doesn't wear off unless I want it too." He sighed "It was just for a bit of fun. You Greeks and Romans take everything too seriously. Though I suppose—"

There was a beeping noise cutting him off. Keith grabbed something at his side.

"Would you look at the time I'm going to be late for my show."

"No, wait—"

He snapped his fingers and with a puff of smoke he was gone.

Great now how were they going to fix this?

Jason heard a groan behind him. He turned to find a figure sitting on the floor, a pale hand holding a mop of black hair.

"Nico?"

Dark eyes looked up at him.

"Who else?" his eyes widened at the sound of his voice and he stretched out his hand to look at it; his very _human_ hand.

Jason moved to help him up but Nico pulled away and stood on his own. He shifted slightly, as though to get used to his human body again. Once he was sure he had good control of his legs he backed away from Jason.

"Well thanks for your help." He started to draw the shadows close until Jason grabbed his arm.

"Not so fast, we need to talk."

~.~

Nico got an earful.

How could he get it across to the guy that no one— with the exception of Hazel— missed him, not really.

"_I_ missed you!" he nearly yelled. "You're my friend Nico."

"Like you're really in a shortage of those, you don't need me."

"That's not the point. Nico I _want_ to be your friend, it's not a matter of whether you think I need you or not"

He looked away. "I'm not going back to the camp or New Rome. I don't belong there"

"You could if you gave it a chance." Jason sighed "I'm not asking you to come back to camp, but at least visit every now and then."

He seemed to think it over before looking back at him.

"I've got to go. Thanks for helping me." He hesitated "I'll see you around, Grace."

Before he could stop him again Nico was gone, Jason hoped that he had meant it.


End file.
